Grappling device.



H. L. INGALSBE.

GBAPPLING DEVICE. nruouxox rum: sum. 30, 1901.

907,056. Patented Dec. 15,1908.

THE "owns PsrsRs co., wAsmNcwN, b. c.

HUGH L. INGALSBE, OF OAKDALE, NEBRASKA.

GRAPPLING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 15, 1908.

Application filed September 30, 1907. Serial No. 395,246.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HUGH L. INGALSBE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oakdale, in the county of Antelope, State of Nebraska, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Grap ling Devices; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descri tion of the invention, such as will enable 0t ers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to grappling devices and more particularly to that class which are designed for the pur ose of removing bolts, scrap iron, or any other foreign matter from the bottoms of wells.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a device of this class which will operate automatically when such foreign matter is properly engaged between the jaws of the device, there being a trip provided for this purpose of such character as to hold the jaws in spread relation rior to grappling the article to be removed but which, when striking the article will release the jaws and permit them to close upon the article and rmly hold it while being lifted from the well.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view showing the manner of using the device, Fig. 2 is a detail view of the device in elevation showing in full lines the jaws in spread relation and in dotted lines their position when grappling an article to be removed from the well.

As shown in the drawings the device comprises a shank 6 which is threaded at its upper end as at 7 for attachment to the lower end of a pump rod 8, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

At its lower end the shank 6 is formed with a pair of integral resilient jaws 9 these jaws, adjacent their point of junction with the shank being curved laterally and downwardly and thence extended directly downwardly except approximately at their middles at which point they are bent to form offset portions 10 which are presented laterally and outwardly. At their lower ends, the jaws are bent inwardly toward each other as at 11, and it is between these inwardly bent lower end portions that the article to be removed from the well is received and clamped.

As heretofore stated the jaws are resilient and in order to hold the jaws normally spread so that the article may be received between their lower ends I have provided a trip device which will now be described.

Hinged as at 12 to one of the jaws 9 in its offset ortion 10 is a pair of arms 13 which have their outer ends of yoke formation and formed with ears 14. The trip element proper of the device is in the form of a rod 15 which at its upper end is rovided with integral pintle lugs 16 whic are received in the ears .14 of the u per arm 13 and intermediate its ends with similar pintle lugs 17 which are received in a like manner in the cars 14 of the lower one of the two arms 13.

From the foregoing it will be understood that vertical movement of the trip rod 15 will result in a vertical swinging movement of the arms 13 and that these arms swing in unison and maintain a parallel relationship,

serve to hold the trip rod 15 in vertical position and centered when the device is ready for use, A jaw ex anding arm 18 is hinged to that jaw 9 to w ich the arms 13 are connected and between the said arms and this arm 18 is widened at its middle and provided with an opening 19 through which the trip rod 15 passes, there being pins 20 secured in the said trip rod 15 above and below the arm 18 so as to connect the arm 18 and the trip rod for simultaneous movement as in the case of the trip rod and the arms 13. This jaw expanding arm 18 is, however, of greater length than the arms 13 and in fact of such length as to ride over the inner face of the other jaw 9 and the trip rod is moved from inoperative to operative position, namely in a downwardly direction from a position in which the arms 13 extend obliquely upwardly.

From the foregoing description of my invention it will be understood that when the trip rod 15 is moved downwardly, or inv other words to operative position, the arm 18 will ride over the inner face of the jaw 9 other than the one to which it is pivoted and will force the two jaws away from each other. When the arm 18 is made to assume a osition at right angles with respect to the s ank 6 of the tool the lower end will be positioned between the lower ends of the jaws 11 but in a lane slightly above the plane occupied there- E Now when the device is lowered into the well by the well rod 8, the article to be removed will be engaged by the lower end of the tri rod 15 and the rod forced in an upward 'rection. This will result in an upward swinging movement of the jaw expanding arm 18 and as a result, the jaws will be permitted to come together by reason of their resiliency and in so doing,will firmly grasp between them the article to be removed, the well rod being then elevated.

What is claimed, is

1. A device of the class described comprising a shank, jaws projecting from the end of the shank and having a normal tendency to movement toward each other, a jaw expanding arm hinged to one of the jaws intermediate the ends thereof and engageable at its free end with the other jaw intermediate the ends thereof, arms pivoted to the first mentioned jaws above and below the jaw expanding arm, and a trip rod connected loosely with the jaw expanding arm and pivotally with the last mentioned arm.

2. A device of the class described comprismovement toward each other, a jaw expandlng arm hinged to one of the aws between the ends thereof and movable into position to engage at its end with the other jaw be tween the ends of the same, a trip rod passed vertically through the jaw expanding arm, ins engaged through the rod above and be-v ow the said jaw expanding arm, and arms pivoted to the first mentioned jaws and to the trip rod above and below the jaw expanding arm.

In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

HUGH L. INGALSBE. Witnesses D. B. OTIS, GEO. W. PARK. 

